Drawing Closer to Christ: A Self-Guided Icon Retreat

Refreshing book. Worth the forward alone. There is a brief history to answer the idolatry questions of mostly Protestant sources. He says a lot about prayer. His theological explanations are brief and in depth enough to be spot on, for both Catholics and Orthodox. The writer teaches the basics: the steps--and directs the painter in exactly which pigment colours, and equipment to use. The advantage of this is that a beginner will not face the tangles that can occurr if he doesn't know how hard/soft the pigments are...how they grind. His pigment choices are right, as concerns tradition. I dislike acrylics, but they can work. If you want to supplement, I suggest you google something like Prosopan steps to painting icons, which will involve you deeply in the egg tempera process, gold leaf, and then some unnecessary nonsense. I have had 2 teachers, read quite a bit, etc. painted. If I could take this writers class, I would. A valuable book which puts a lot of information in a thin volume; and the print is very readible. Illustrations w/ each step.

Drawing Closer to Christ is a self-guided icon retreat that likens the steps of writing the icon with the days of the Creation narrative. I enjoyed the explanations about icons in general and the daily theological reflections. I do not come from a religious tradition that uses icons and have been interested in learning more about them. I took two classes prior to buying this book so had written two icons previously. I would not recommend it to someone who had never written an icon. It wasn’t always easy to understand the steps. It would have helped to have more pictures of the icon at each stage rather than refer to the finished picture as a reference. That said, I learned a lot and also enjoyed it from a spiritual and theological standpoint.

The author does an inspired fob in taking the student of iconography into the deeper levels of the reality of the icon. This is a good introduction into a second sight into layers of reality that exist beneath the visual. I appreciated the seven day guide paralleling the creation story. My only comment is that this should be for a more advanced student. It seems that the tasks assigned for each day (maybe we are talking biblical days) are too complex for the time period allotted. When I work on an icon, I am give myself a month in order to be focused yet not frustrated.

I have only started reading this book and the spiritual reflections and discussion are very good. I just discovered, however, that the instructions are for painting icons with acrylic paints, rather than the traditional egg tempera. I was a little disappointed (and a little not). I am still finding my way regarding what medium(s) to use and have used acrylics myself - so I am certainly not intending to imply that the medium makes the icon. It just would have been nice to know this before purchasing the book and I didn't find this information in the preview. Hence, I am letting other prospective buyers knows this in the event that it matters to them.

This is for someone who wishes to be self taught. It is step by step andoffers insights as to the spiritual component of writing icons. It is a didacticfrom a seeming friend.

In the middle of reading the book and finding it very interesting and informative. Could comment more when I finish it but so far I am really enjoying it.

Good product

I am disappointed in this book. The information is useful, the images are not. If you look at the photos in the book description, the images are in color. If you get the actual book, these same images are grey. This is an art instruction book that describes different colors, different layers. You can read about the colors and layers being applied. Unfortunately you cannot see the colors and layers because every image accompanying a painting step is grey...